June 25th

THE DETAILS:

THE WEATHER: Well, we were forecasted for rain and it looked like the whole day was going to be a wash out but it has turned out to be a gorgeous day! High of 71 and partly cloudy.

THE DISTANCE: We left Cantwell around noon time and arrived in Talkeetna around 4:00. A total of about 120 miles.


I spent the morning on the computer believe it or not. Cantwell had a great WIFI connection so I did some banking, etc. on line. We were on our way back down the Parks Highway through a stretch of territory called “Caribou Pass”. It was beautiful. Mountains in the background and tundra in front of us. Of course we never saw a caribou (as usual) but it sure looked like the perfect setting for them. As the road descended and gave way to thicker forests and larger trees, it looks more like New Hampshire! We got to the 14 mile cut off north up to Talkeetna and discovered that was a quaint little town that is somewhere between back-woods Alaska and small-town tourist trap. The road up here was more like a suburb road in a major city due to its paved bike trail that paralleled the road and all the street signs looked modern and new. As we neared the end of the spur road we could just barely make out a gorgeous view of Mt. McKinley in front of us. We’re going to try to get a picture of it if the clouds break up tonight.

This is actually base camp for Mt. McKinley hikers and a great spot for flying to the mountain for an aerial tour. We see many hikers around the area. The road literally ends in a round-about that has a bunch of quaint shops selling a ton of Alaska memorabilia. There is the constant sounds of small aircraft overhead landing and taking off from a lake and a train’s whistle in the distance. Unfortunately we were unable to get the campground we wanted due to it being full so we settled for a “dry” camp site just about a half mile away. We may get a spot at the real campground tomorrow - hopefully. (Dry camping, in case you didn’t know, is where they offer a piece of land you can park your RV that has a picnic table and fire pit but no hook-ups. No water or electric. So we’ll be running off of battery tonight. We’ll have water & electric but at a reduced strength.)

We will spend a few days here for a couple of reasons. #1.… it looks like good fishing in the area. The guy who checked us in said the king’s are starting to run. That’s fish talk for: the king salmons are starting to head up river! #2... Pastor Paul told us of a church here in town that we would like to check out on Sunday. #3... I have a bunch of work still to do on the computer (end of the month bills, ugh!) and I could take care of it at the campsite if they have a good connection.

So we spent the evening driving around the area on the motorcycle. It is a lot of fun seeing the country side that way. We did some grocery shopping and walked around the little shops and enjoyed a Canadian made beer before retiring for the evening.

PS: Rick, the table to my right are all Germans. It was fun to listen to them talk it up all night long!

June 24th

THE DETAILS:

WEATHER: The day started with cloudless skies, 56 degrees and a steady wind. The clouds rolled in by noon and the temperatures rose to a comfortable 80 degrees and of course - afternoon showers.


DISTANCE: We finally left our “Father’s Day Spot” at 11:00 am. We drove ½ of the 134 mile Denali Highway and turned back. We will finish the other 57 miles on our return trip.


As we drove back through Denali National Forest for the last time I was reminded of the dizzying affect of trying to take in the height and width and breath of this mountain range. It reminds me of Psalm 4: “What is man that you are mindful of him? … Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

We continued south to Cantwell and took a left onto Denali Highway. This is some of the most beautiful scenery we’ve taken in since the Yukon. It is rugged and remote but the road wasn’t treacherous like Denali or Dalton Highway. There is a glacier mountain in the distance covered with snow opposite our road, a deep valley full of ponds & streams between and we rode the ridge on the other side of it all. It is perfect terrain for moose, bear & caribou but we only saw 3 very large moose in a distant pond. We could watch the rain showers in the afternoon roll in from miles away and at one point we were in a full down pour but the sun was shining. Very strange weather here.

Gary fished one stream along the way and within an hour had 2 grayling. They are in the trout family. One was 10 inches and the other 9. There’s dinner for tonight! As we made our way back to Parks Highway we watched for bear or caribou but instead saw our first rainbow. It was gorgeous with the mountain range as a back drop. We drove another mile or so and behind us we witnessed a double rainbow! I’ve never seen where a rainbow ends or begins. I didn’t think it was possible, but both of these rainbows dropped right down into the field that we were parked next to. It was so cool. We stayed there a while admiring its beauty and determined that we didn’t have time to continue on down Parks Highway toward Anchorage. We pulled into a place just off of Parks Highway in Cantwell called Cantwell RV Park. So creative!


PS: Dan, I know you’re excited to get to Sarah in Wasilla but you’ll have to be patient. There is SOOO much to see before we get there! Besides, we have fish to catch along the way also. I didn’t notice the W for Wonder Lake but thanks for pointing that out. Very cool.

Martie, Okay, there are your pictures and I’m glad you’re enjoying the reality vacation show. I am DIEING to know what Alex’s story is though…. A fat lip??? Raising boys…. Gotta’ love it.